Metallic building.



PATBNTBD JULY 14, 1903.

J. SPELMAN. METALLIC BUILDING.

APILIOATIOH nun no. so, 1901.

2 SHEETS-BR211131- IO IODEL.

J. SPELMAN.

METALLIC BUILDING.

rum-r1011 FILED no. so, 1901.

PATENTED JULY 14, 1903.

m u; 11 W l mi f I:

W W o a Ito. 733,435.

UNITED STATES Patented July 14, 1903. I

PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES SPELMAN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO JOHN S. METOALF 00., .OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

METALLIC BUILDING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 733,435, dated July 14, 1963.

Application filed December 30, 1901. $erial No. 87,718. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J AMES SPELMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois,

have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Metallic Buildings, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates more particularly to a building of the class commonly IO used for storing grain and other commodities and which usually contains a number of separate compartments or bins. Such buildings when viewed in horizontal cross-section are usually cellular in appearance and comprise a large number of separate bins or compartments; but I desire to have it understood that my present invention is not limited to the number of bins or compartments the building contains, but, on the contrary, in its broadest aspect covers any number from one up, although some features of it are not pres ent in a structure having less than four. I have, therefore, illustrated my invention as embodied in a building having four bins or compartments, since all of its several features can be embodied in such a structure, but would again suggest that all of said features may be embodied in a structure having a greater number, while some of them may be embodied in a structure having a less number. 7

The prime object of the invention is to provide a building of the class described which while simple in construction shall, neverthe- 135 less, be stout, rigid, and durable, to the end that the bin or each bin shall be capable of resisting any pressure that may be put upon it, either from within (due to its own contents) or from without, (due to the contents of an adjoining bin or bins where the structure has more than one.)

To these ends the invention consists in the features of novelty that are hereinafter described with reference to the accompanying drawings, which are made a part of this specification, and in which Figure 1 is a horizontal section of a fourbin structure embodying the invention. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section taken at the intersection of the inner walls of four adjacent bins or compartments and showing the manner of I securing all of said walls in place. Fig. 3 is a view, partly in side elevation and partly in vertical section, on the line 3 3, Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a horizontal section of one of the columns and fragments of the sheathing-plates secured thereto.

A, B, C, and D represent four bins arranged in a group, so that each enters into the construction of those immediately adjacent to it and so that they mutually support and strengthen each other. As before stated, however, some features of the invention are applicable to a structure having only a single bin, and I will therefore first describe one bin and then point out the additional features that are necessary in a structure having four or more bins.

The bin Bis rectangular in horizontal cross section and has four walls B, B B and B Each of these walls is made up of a number of alined sheet-metal plates 1) and one or more columns E, through the medium of which the plates are connected and supported, and the adjacent plates of adjacent walls are connected at the corners of the bin through the medium of vertical angle-irons F. Each of the columns E is made up of two complementary channel-irons 6, each having portions edisposed at right angles to each other and flanges e, extending outward from their margins in a plane forming equal angles with theportions e. The margins of the alined plates b on opposite sides of each column project between the flanges e of the channel-irons and are there secured by bolts or rivets 6 that pass through said margins and flanges. The result is a composite column of great strength and rigidity and of which the margins of the alined plates as Well as the flanged channel-irons form component parts. In order to increase the rigidity of these columns and at the same time protect their interior surfaces as against corrosion, they are preferably filled in with concrete, as 5 shown at E. Upon the outside of the bin each column E presents two surfaces at right angles to each other, and each of these surfaces forms an angle of one hundred and thirty-five degrees with the surface of the I00 immediately-adjoining plate I). This brings the far sides of the columns of one Wall in planes parallel with the far sides of the columns of adjacent walls, and these far or parallel sides of the columns alford firm bearings for the heads or nuts g of the tie-rods G, which pass completely through the columns from side to side. Furthermore, as a result of this construction and arrangement of the columns and tie-rods the strain of each tierod is parallel with the two flat sides of each column through which it passes, and hence said strain is resisted by the edgewise strength of said flat sides. The tie-rods cross the corners of the bin diagonally, so as to form equal angles with the adjacent sides thereof and may be placed at any desired distances apart vertically. The walls 13 and B of the bin B also enter into the construction of the bins A and D, respectively, and in like manner the inner walls of each bin enter into the construction of adjacent bins. In each group of four bins the tie-rods crossing the inner corners of the bins diagonally form a square, so that each column of the inner group of four columns is braced by all the other columns of said group. All of the bins are constructed preciselylike the bin B, excepting that where the four bins come together I prefer to use only two angle-irons F instead of one for each bin. At this point the Walls B and C overlap and lie between the parallel flanges of the angle-irons F, and bolts or rivetsfare passed through the four thicknesses. In addition to this the walls A and B are secured by bolts or rivets f to the other flanges of the angle-irons F. The result of this is a composite column of'great strength and rigidity,

which in connection with the four sets of diagonal braces at the inner corners of the four bins at center of the group gives the structure ample stability at this point and causes each bin to be firmly braced and sustained by the others. Each of the columns E of each wall is, in effect, a vertical strengthening-rib incorporated in the wall between the corners of the bin and between the points of intersection with theother walls thereof.

So far as I am aware I am the first to con struct the'wall of a bin or other structure of sheet-metal plates lying in a common plane and having secured to them at their vertical margins strengthenin g-ribs such as described.

I am aware that hollow posts located at the corners of a bin, or, in other words, at the points of intersection of adjacent walls of the bin, have been made of angle-irons bolted or riveted together and to the adjacent margins of the plates forming the intersecting walls. I am also aware that hollow posts or columns have been made of two or more angle-irons bolted or riveted together. I am not aware,

however, that any such columns have ever been incorporated at intermediate points in a continuous straight wall for the purpose of strengthening said wall and, if desired, dispensing with the necessity for corner-posts at intersections of walls.

Having thus described my invention, the following is what I claim as new therein and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. In a metallic structure, a wall comprising alined sheet-metal plates united by a column formed of two complementary flanged channel-irons connected to each other by rivets passing through their flanges and through the adjacent marginal portions of the wallplates, and tie-rods passing through the charm nel-iron sections and having heads or nuts bearing against the far sides of the channelirons, substantially as set forth.

2. A metallic structure, having angularlyrelated walls, each wall formed of alined plates, columns uniting said plates and composed of channel-irons riveted together and to the adjacent edges of said plates, and tierods passing through the constituent channel-irons of each of the two columns of two angularly-related walls, substantially as set forth.

3. A metallic structure, comprising a group of four bins having inner walls A B B and C said walls being made of sheet-metal plates and the margins of the walls B and being overlapped, angle-irons F arranged in the angles between the walls A and B ,and B and B, respectively, bolts or rivets passing through the flanges of both angle irons and also through the overlapping portions of the walls 13 and C and other bolts or rivets passing through the remaining flanges of the angleirons and through the walls A and B respectively, substantially as set forth.

4. A'metallic structure, having a group of bins with angularly-related intersecting walls, means for securing said walls together at the point of intersection, each of said walls comprising alined sheet-metal plates united by a column formed of two complementary flanged channel-irons connected to each other by rivets passing through their flanges and through the adjacent marginal portions of the wallplates, and tie-rods crossing the adjacent corners of adjacent bins,the tie-rods being passed through both channel-irons of each of the columns of the adjacent angularly-related walls and provided with heads or nuts bearing against the far sides of the columns through which they pass, substantially as set forth.

JAMES SPELMAN.

Witnesses:

BELLA EVANS, L. M. HOPKINS. 

